School closure due to heat

25Avalon

Here in South Gloucs there is a red heat alert for Wednesday and Thursday so local schools have decided to close. This is a real problem for working parents who can’t get time off or if one is due to be away on business and their company says they still have to go. Dh is not well at, so difficult fro me to step in. Hopefully other gps who don’t work will be able to help.

I'm in south Gloucestershire also and have just picked up the RED alert after talking to a friend whose daughter is in exactly that position - school closed, every other family member working.

Back in the early 70s when my son's nursery had an emergency closure, I also had that predicament. At the time I was 'temping' in what was then called The Office of Manpower Economics (a quango). I called them, to say I'd not be able to work and the reply was "bring him into the office with you". He was still in nappies and crawling...

Surprisingly, I did manage to get some work done, we boxed him into a corner with chairs and desks and gave him some defunct telephone equipment and other items to play with until he fell asleep in a cardboard box.

I don't think employers would - or can - be so accommodating now.

These heatwaves are going to become a permanent fixture so I believe we're going to have to plan for them. I feel sorry for working parents, and the onus generally falls on the woman.

The bottom line is though that no-one should be forced to run the risk of heat-stroke.

Milliedog

Schools also close because of snow, so closing due to extreme heat shouldn't be a surprise. However, I was a teacher in 1976 and our primary school remained open. We took some lessons in the playing field. But I'd like to point out that some schools have internal classrooms with NO windows. ....

Also the temperatures during the 1976 heatwave were 3 degrees less than the current heatwave which is actually a big difference.

Schools also close because of snow, so closing due to extreme heat shouldn't be a surprise. However, I was a teacher in 1976 and our primary school remained open. We took some lessons in the playing field. But I'd like to point out that some schools have internal classrooms with NO windows. ....

Up until now, a few very summer's hot days were an unusual occurrence, so of course provisions were not made for that in the construction of schools in the 1960s.

Going forward, however, this may well have to be a consideration.

ginny

For goodness sake!
1976 was boiling hot almost ever day from May onwards. No schools closed, everyone still went to work. We got married in the July. Wedding dress fashion then was long sleeves and high neck.

I had a baby in the August of '76! I was like a beached sweaty male.

Grandma70s

Schools are not babysitters. Children are the responsibility of their parents.

... yes, I'd guess that parents are, generally, well aware of that fact.

Hence the predicament they might be in.

nanna8

They don’t close schools here even when it is 40 C plus. They probably have better ways of dealing with the heat,though.

That’s probably true. Here some of our children are in prefab buildings which will be like ovens at the moment or 1960s badly built blocks with lots of windows and no or inefficient blinds.

They don’t close schools here even when it is 40 C plus. They probably have better ways of dealing with the heat,though.

Baggs I went to school in both Nigeria and HK.
I seem to remember it used to get a bit warm there too!

*taught

I tsught in Thai schools that had no air con and were hotter than anything the UK has to deal with. Teachers and children coped fine. It's only a 'problem' here (just like snow) because it's unusual. Millions of people live all the time in very hot temperatures.

I took my O levels in that heat of '76. I'll always remember a girl near me who had a hot water bottle because of period pain!

The County FA have issued guidance not to train or play games when the temperature is 30C. Mostly common sense really.

Hi Jinny I agree. I was pregnant in '76, we had a standpipe, and the road turned to wet tar, but no schools were closed

My grandson's grammar school told them to come in to day in PE gear, bringing water, sun screen and hats. Tomorrow is speech day which will end early so they will be leaving by 11.30 am. Wednesday and Thursday they will be working on line at home. Apparently they will take some boys in if necessary for safeguarding or whatever. He is 13 1/2 and well able to look after himself at home for a couple of days.

HeyGirl

I remember the heatwave in the 70's. The only provision my school made was that boys were allowed to take their ties off. Schools didn't close and although I agree that schools aren't babysitters, the economy relies on parents going to work whilst their children are at school.

👏👏👏👏

I work part time in a nursery we haven’t heard anything yet. Plenty of drinks and water play in shaded areas should suffice.also any parents concerned will make their own arrangements with family.

It’s only a couple of days. Working parents are used to sudden collapse of their complicated childcare plans. They coped during a couple of years during Covid.
I don’t think children should be at school in a heatwave. Here, from age four, they have a long walk down steep hills then back up when they are tired at the end of the school day. The secondary school is further away up another steep hill. Not many adults are walking two miles to work.

Magenta8 I have little sympathy for schools closing on a summers day because it is going to be hot…

Grandma70s

Schools are not babysitters. Children are the responsibility of their parents.

I agree that schools are not there to babysit Grandma70s but, with respect, I think you are missing the point.

It is much more difficult to plan round unscheduled school closures.

Many parents have to structure work round the children which means that they have to arrange holiday clubs, child minders etc. for times when the children are not at school. This is sometimes tricky even with reasonable notice but if unforeseen closures happen at very short notice it can be a nightmare.

GrannyGravy13 I fail to see the connection between schools being obliged to close because of the weather and parents feeling entitled to take children out of school for family holidays. I have no sympathy for parents who think it is acceptable.

Whst a lovely memory. And what a profound thought for a small child. Did he turn out to be a deep thinker?

Apparently I said to my mother at 4 "if I wasn't inside me who would be inside looking out?
That probably was the peak of my deep thoughts!!

Since then I have been a person of hidden shallows

Grandma70s

Schools are not babysitters. Children are the responsibility of their parents.

But when parents are employees, getting their work done can also be critical, so in many cases taking leave at short-notice means not living up to their responsibilities to the business that employs them.

Not sure what the answer is, but it's not that no mothers should go back to work until their children are 14 or responsible enough to spend a day at home alone, surely.

I wonder if staff have to go in?

What an interesting question from such a youngster.

My memory of that time is lovely. I hadn't gone back to work yet. I used to put the children aged 5 and 3 to bed in the afternoon, and in the evening we all used to have supper in the garden together and go for a night walk. Sometimes we went with another family to the downs and made a fire to sit round and gaze at the stars. "Does time go on forever?" asked DS aged 5.